Under a Spell

We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For

Hi there, my name is Kara and I am (as one reader called me) “a reporter on the mundane.” I have an MFA in fiction and years of profiling artists under my belt, but in 2021, I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor which was attended by miracle workers in a nineteen-hour surgery. Most of the thing was removed, but the experience was a taser - are you awake yet - and inspired me to really turn the camera on myself.

This newsletter is a volume tool, helping me hear my own voice in a culture that can be pretty effin’ loud. It’s a form of witnessing my days and reminding myself how connected we all are. It’s a playground exploring things that bring me joy and anxiety, and the kind of wisdom that only comes from paying attention.

I believe it’s also a necessary correction for gender issues, since activities and roles traditionally coded as “female” are given less credence in our culture. This misogyny hurts us all. As someone parenting in a “female” body, it has certainly hurt me. I want to talk about it, explore it, reclaim these softer spaces. I believe we genuinely need them, each of us, and I want to do my part normalizing them. In a way, I want to mother us all, so we can be a little nicer to ourselves and each other.

I write about creativity because I need it to stay sane. I also write about relationships, parenting, and things I’m “failing” at, pop culture, film, music, books, and why I own too many geese figurines. My hope is that this excavation inspires and heals, helping us all land more softly in our hearts.

To find more of my writing, go here. For an explanation of my other blog’s untidy, Sanskrit-heavy name, go here. For some of my fiction, go here.

If you feel inspired to subscribe to this newsletter, I would be so grateful.

Thank you for being here. Heart emoji, deer emoji,

Kara